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V, 



THE 

American Soul 

AN APPRECIATION OF THE FOUR GREATEST 

AMERICANS AND THEIR LESSON FOR 

PRESENT AMERICANS 

BY 

Charles Sherwood Farriss 

Vice-Pres. of .Tno. B. Stetson University 



"dnml tins, I hoi iikiii nnisl jxiss from old to iieir, 
From mill to real, from mistake to fact. 
From irliat once seemed ijaod, to what now proves 
Jirst.'" — Robert Browning. 




1920 



THE STRATFORD CO., Publishers 
Boston, Massachusetts 






Copyrislit I'JlKt 

The STRATFORD CO., PublisliiT.- 

Boston. Mass. 



S)C(.A604353 



NOV I'd 1920 



Tlio Alpine Press, Jioston, Mass., U.S.A. 



A Prefatory Warning 

Here honest icorejs of f/reot nu ii gone ar( spohi ii, true 
To life: but all I hat niitjJif he saiel is left the noiiee 
For larger spaee. 

No hardness, sonrnf^ss, enri/, hate 

Is here allou-eel. If these i/on seek, elose tight the hook. 



Invocation 

0, God of Lineolii, God of Lee, — oli, lead us, Lord, 
Of Wasliiiig-ton, and Roosevelt, rare, — oh, giiartl us 

Lord ! 
The work which Thou hast wrought we beg that Thou 

shalt keep 
Against an evil day jx-rcliance ourselves nvay bring. 
Keep off the storms whieh counter currents often 

raise ; 
Fast chain our foolisli passion's i)assing gales within, 
Nor let them, raging, move apart the stones just set. 
And scatter ruin where now our house so stately 

stands. 

Oh, let there be no fool's harsh word on land or sea, 
AViiich gathers force ofttimes with good men off their 

guard. 
And makes them act nu)re foolishly than he who threw 
The brand which fired their souls with false and l)ase 

alarms. 
Oh, let there be no Prejudice, in North or 8outii, 
A'ile l)ird that casts its feathered darts from off its 

back. 
To wound with brazen claws and wings and hideous 

beak. 
And feed on liumaii Hesh while foreign Harpies breed. 



"All America is thrown into one mass. Wlicre are 
your landmarks — your bouudaries of colonies? They 
ai'e all Ihrown down. The distinctions between Vir- 
<>'inians, Peinisylvanians, New Yorkers and New Eng- 
landers, are no more. I am not a \^irg-inian, but an 
American."" — John Adiiins' Dutvji, as qnotid hi/ W. 
Irriiif/, (/iviiig extract from speech of Patrick Henry, 
in the first American. Congress, 



Table of Contents 



PAGE 



OUR PMRST PRESIDENT .... 5 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 27 

ROBERT EDWARD LEE .... 45 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT .... 69 



National F^rcedoiii — I lulixsolahU' Uiiio)i — Moral 
and Militani (Ircahuss — Virile Anicricaitisin. 



CKORCI'. WASH I N(, TON 




WASHINGTON AS A HKITISH LIKUTP^NANT 
Copyrighted by Miley & Son, Lexiiigton, Va. 



"The man who, amid the decadence of modern 
ages first dared believe that lie could inspire degener- 
ate nations with courage to rise to the level of 
republican virtues, lived for all nations and for all 
centuries." — Tallei/rand, French Minister of Foreign 
Affairs under Bonaparte. 

"Hap]>y in the contirnuitlon of our independence 
and sovereignty, and i)leased with the opportunity 
afforded the United States of becoming a respectable 
nation, I resign with satisfaction the appointment I 
accepted with diffidence; a diffidence in my abilities 
to accomplish so arduous a task, which, however, was 
superseded by a confidence in the rectitude of our 
cause, the support of the supreme power of the 
Union, and the patronage of heaven." — From 
Washington's address before Congress tendering his 
resignation as Commanding General. 

"Should the States reject this excellent Constitu- 
tion, the probability is that oi^portunity will never be 
offered to cancel another in peace; the next will be 
drawn in blood." — G. W. 

(Traditionalhf related of him when signing 
the Constitution.) 



George Washington 



T"XrE have all had, from our childhood, a p'^'^^^;;l 

\ \ wonderful report of George Washing- 
ton ; but it was not ecjual to the reality. The 
stories told of his boyhood are not believed to- 
day. Nevertheless, his life reads like a eharniing 
ronianee. Augustine AVasliington was tlirown 
from a carriage in London. On arising, he 
looked for the tirst time into the lovely eyes of 
Mary Ball, who afterwards became the mother 
of our first Presitlent. Who can believe in ac- 
cidents ! The young George was himself of a 
decidedly romantic turn. From fourteen to 
twenty-five he was violently in love many times. 
In fact, Washington was never unsuccessful in 
anything but courtship. Possibly his lack of 
success in these things was only the way the 
fates had of guiding him eventually to the door- 
step of Martha Dandridge, the young, intelligent 
antl charming widow of Daniel Parke Custis. At 
the tinie of his marriage he was twenty-seven 
years old. He had already gained fame in the Sucoess 

XT 1 T 1 • ' mi " '" IjOVP 

Jb rench and Indian wars. The young Colonel 
retired from tlie Army, went to Mount Vernon, 
which had fallen into his possession by the death 
of Lawrence AVasliington, his brother. There he 
spent his honeymoon. With Lord Fairfax, the 
friend of his boyhood, and many gentlemen of 

[5] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

the day, he hunted foxes and discussed the g'low- 
iug questions of the day. He served as a member 
of the House of Burgesses, and also had time to 
become a diligent and most successful farmer 
besides. Those were hapj^y days at Mount Ver- 
non. But clouds were gathering. Events soon 
took an ominous turn. 

Clouds Gather ^j^^ stui)idity of the English Ministry and 
Parliament of that period is ([uite incredible in 
these later times. The Virginia Assembly had 
protested in vain against what is known as the 
Stamp Act. This Act required that the Colonists 
pay a revenue tax upon "all their commercial 
paper, legal documents, pamphlets and news- 
papers," and affix revenue stamps thereto. In 
furtherance of the Act British soldiers took up 
their residence at different places at the expense 
of the Colonists. In this manner Grenville, the 
British Prime Minister, attempted to defray "the 
expenses of defending, protecting and securing 
the colonies." "But," as Mr. Wilson remarks, 
"he came near losing them instead. (The Act 
was passed in March ; it was not to go into effect 
until November; but the Colonists did not keep 
them waiting until November for their protests.) 

A storm j\ ^yas the voice of a veritable tempest that 

of Protest * 

presently came over the sea to the ear of the 
startled Minister. " The year before (1764) the 
Virginia House of Burgesses had protested in 
advance against such taxation. That protest had 
been disregarded. What must be done? To 

[6] 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 

.sp(>ak atrainst the Act now that it has passed 
Parliament, woukl be nothing' short of treason. 
Was it possible that the men who had left Eng- 
land for their freedom would submit to a measure 
that violated their liberties? It was a time for 
courageous deliberation, for wise indio;nation, for 
itn])lied dissent of a menacing nature; but not 
of intemperate disobedience. And why not open 
opposition? Was there not really a determina- 
tion to resist the injustice that had been per- 
petrated against America ? Yes. Then why not 
oppose in so many words? That was the position Patrick 
of Patrick Henry, the new member from Han- Boidmss 
over. That young lawyer and country store- 
keeper, offered resolutions and made a speech 
which startled the House of Burgesses and 
thrilled the world. The imi)etuosity and charm 
of his eloquence carried the majority with him. 
But patriots like Peytou Randolph, Edmund 
Pendleton, Robert Carter Nicliolas, George 
W\ythe, and others of the older and more con- 
servative members, were alarmed. They feared 
that all the fat was being cast into the tire. Some 
of them even cried Treason ! Treason ! when 
Patrick Henry reached the climax of his defiant 
address and recommended that the English King 
consider well the fate of Caesar and Charles the 
First. "If that be treason, make the most of it !'' 
he said. 

What did Washington do? Let us glance 
toward his seat in the House during this excite- 

[7] 



THE AMP^RICAN SOUL 

ment at Henry's address. It is well to do so. 
It has the effect of calming one's nerves. There 
he sat in silence, feeling deeply, but with the 
calm of the brave soldier, the vision of the seer 
and the determination of the patriot. He felt 
that Henry was right. But no one was ever 
further from intemperate act or thought than 
?*°'"*' , was George Washingtoii. So he was opposed to 

temperate o o i i 

than Henry ^jp intemperate part of the Henry resolutions 
which, had they been adopted, would have 
brought a British Army at once to the American 
shores. Possibly Jefferson had Washington in 
mind when he looked back on those glowing days 
and said. "Although we often wished to have 
gone faster, we slackened our pace, that our less 
ardent colleagues might keej) up with us; and 
they, on their part, differing nothing from us in 
principle, quickened their gait somewhat beyond 
that which their prudence might of itself have 
advised." But Washington, while not radical or 
precipitate, was convinced that the Stamp Act 
could never be enforced, and so wrote to Philip 
Dandridge, in London. The Stamj) Act was re-, 
stani). Act pcalcd biit its principle was repeated. It was 
ill Prinripie lollowcd, HI 1767, With "taxcs ou glass, paper, 
painters' colors and tea imported in the Colonies 
with a purpose to pay fixed salaries to the 
Crown's officers in the Colonies out of the pro- 
ceeds; and the contested ground was all to go 
over again." Even Jefferson would not accuse 
Washington of being slow of step in tlic face 

[8] 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 

of a letter which the latter wrote at this time to 
that splendid lawyer and statesman, George 
Mason. "At a time," said Washington, 
"when our Lordly Masters in Great Britain 
will be satisfied with nothing less than the 
deprivation of American freedom, it seems 
highly necessary that sometliing should be done 
to avert the stroke, and maintain the liberty 
wliicli we have derived from our ancestors. 
That no man should scruple or hesitate for a 
moment, to use arms in defence of so valuable 
a blessing, on which all the good and evil of life 
depends, is clearl}^ my opinion. Yet arms, I 
would beg leave to add, should be the last re- 
source." 

The first Continental Congress met in Phila- Piist 
delphia in 1774. Peyton Randolph, of Vir- ^'°"*^"'^^^« 
ginia, was President. Samuel Adams, rough 
of speech, adroit, and a natural born rebel, 
controlled tlie Massachusetts delegation. They 
had suffered most, Avitli British troops 
quartered upon Boston and the port shut up. 
The so-called Congress was hardly more than 
a meeting of Committees' from the several 
Colonies. Patrick Henry, one of the represent- 
atives from Virginia, said that unquestionably 
Colonel George Washington was "the greatest 
man on the floor." Yet he did not figure as a 
leader there, although he was reported as 
taking advanced ground in his sentiments 
against the gross treatment of Massachusetts' 

[9] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 



His 

Earnestness 



Second 
Congress 



Washington 

elected 

Commander 



The New 
General a 
Noble Figure 



Colony. One strikino- utterance was: "I will 
raise one thousand men, enlist them at my own 
expense, and march myself at their head for the 
relief of Boston!" If he said that, he was de- 
cidedly side by side with Patrick Henry. 

The second (N)ntinental C^ongress met at 
Philadelphia on the 10th of May, ITTfx Omi- 
nous events led up to it. There was a great 
difference between it and the first Congress — 
that only protested — this acted. War had 
actually begun. Ethan Allen was at that in- 
stant taking possession of Fort Ticonderoga. 
16,000 Continentals were in or near Boston. 
Washington was present, an out and out rebel, 
in his Continental uniform, ready to assist to 
the extent of his life and fortune. He was 
unanimously elected to take command of the 
new army which was waiting for a leader. He 
said to Congress, in accepting the commission : 
"I beg it may be remembered by every gentle- 
man in this room, that I this day declare with 
the utmost sincerity I do not think myself efjual 
to the command I am honored with." Two 
days later he was on his way to take command. 
John Adams said of him: "There is something 
charming to me in the conduct of Washing- 
ton." Sa.ys Woodrow Wilson: "It was an 
object lesson in the character of the revolution 
to see Washington ride through the Colonies to 
take charge of an insurgent army. That noble 
figure drew all eyes to it ; that mien as if the 



[10] 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 

man were a priiieo ; that sincere and open eonn- 
tenance, whieli every man conld see was lighted 
by a good conscience ; that cordial ease in 
salute, as of a man who felt himself brother t(i 
his friends. There was something about Wash- 
ington that qnickeued the pulses of a crowd at 
the same time tliat it awed tliem, that drew 
cheers whicli were a sort of voice of worshij). 
Childi-eu desired sight of him, and men felt 
lifted after he had i)asse(l. It was good to have 
such a man ride all the open way from Phila- 
delphia to Cambridge, in sight of the people, to 
assume command of the people's army. It 
gave character to the thoughts of all who saw 
him." Was there ever a tiner portraiture, in- 
side and outside, than that? It carries us pell- 
mell into those exciting days and places us 
npon tlie side-lines to lift our hats and, not 
shout but pray, for the man who must, by his 
wonderful magnetism, both create and hold 
together, for eight bitter years, the army which 
struck the blows of freedom and made secure 
the future of the world's greatest republic — a 
man whose doings thereafter were the history 
of America. Henry Gabot Lodge says of hnn : 
"The people looked upon him, and were con- 
fident that this was a man worthy and aide to 
dare and do all things." Every step of the 
way as he rode to Boston Avas a part of a great 
triumphal entry u])()n his duties. Bunker Hill 
had been fought before he arrived in Boston. 

[11] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

"Did the militia fi<i'ht?" was liis quiet tliou^li 
])ii].satiii<i' iiHiuiry of the mes.seiip,'er. "Yes!" 
"Then the liberties of the country are safe." 
I quote from Mr. Lodge's biography: "Mrs. 
John Adams," he says, "warm-hearted and 
clever, wrote to her husband after the general's 
arrival: "Dignity, ease and complacency, the 
gentleman and the soldier look agreeably 
blended in him. Modesty marks every line 
and feature of his face. Those lines of Dryden 
instantly occurred to me, — 
"Mark his majestic fabric! He's a temple! 

Sacred by birth, and built by hands diviue ; 

His soul's the deity that lodges there; 

Nor is the pile unworthy of the God." 

Lady, laAvyer and surgeon, ]iatriot and tory, 

all speak alike, and as they wrote, so New 

New Kngiand England fclt. A slave owner, an aristocrat, 

trui' to '^ ' 

Wasiiington ^,^(1 .j ehurchnuin, AVashiugton came to (Cam- 
bridge to pass over the heads of native generals 
to the command of a New England aVmy, 
among a democratic people, hard working and 
simple in their lives, and dissenters to the back- 
bone, Avho regarded episcopacy as something 
little shoi-t of papistry and quite equivalent to 
toryism. Yet the shout that went up from 
soldiers and people on Cambridge Connnon on 
that pleasant July morning came from the 
heart and had no jarring note. On the field of 
battle and throughout eight years of political 

[12] 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 

.strife the men of New England stood by tlie 
great Virginian." 

Tliis dramatic beginning, liad a g^reat mnl- 
titnde of more and more dramatic seqnences. 
Indeed for the six years from Bnnker Hill to H'^^ i'*'' f'"™ 

now on an 

Yorktown Washington's life Avas an epic made Ki''< 
up of hundreds of startling dramas. I have 
not the space to tell of the manner in which he 
bafHed the English Generals, Howe, Gage, Clin- 
ton and Cornwallis — of his occupation of, and 
retreat from New York City through New Jer- 
sey — of his crossing the Delaware, capturing 
Trenton, j^unishing the British at Princeton — 
of his pledging his private fortune for the pay- 
ment of his troops — of his defeat of Howe at 
Brandywine — of his heroic struggles at Valley 
Forge — of his attack on Clinton at Monmouth 
Court House — of his exasperation at Richard 
Henry Lee, his grief at Arnold's treason, and 
his outwitting and capture of Cornwallis at 
Yorktown. These events, as events, have been 
familiar to us since childhood; Init their full 
significance, as they were experienced by 
Washington, we have never felt at their full 
value, simply from the fact that no historian 
has ever sounded the depths of the great pro- 
tagonist who occupied the centre of the stage 
during the whole of those stirriim times. He c'ongress 

' dilatory iii 

had won the war at Yorktown ; but two full making i.eace 
years passed before peace was finally made by 
the dilatory Congress. In the meantime, the 

[13] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

most (Iramatie event of the entire war occurred. 
It was nothing- less than the direct offer to 
Washington of a Kingdom by the army. The 
incident is knoAvn as Colonel Nicola's proposal 
from tlie fact tliat he was the writer of the 
h'tter to Washington. The main cause of the 
pro])osal was the unpojMdarity of the civil gov- 
rybukes^offer ^mment with tlie soldiers. They desired to 
to make him overthrow it and place Washington at the head 
government ^f .^ stronger fomi of government. Today, as 
we read of the ingratitude of Congress, which 
refused to pay the soldiers, and yield them that 
consideration which they deserved, our hearts 
grow hot with wrath. But while the great 
chieftain was on the side of the soldiers, he was 
deeply hurt at their offer. Nothing ever so 
stung him. He rebuked them severely in liis 
reply, and hoped that the country might never 
know of the offer which had been made to him. 
He was not tempted. What tempted and over- 
came Caesar, Cromwell, Napoleon, only gave 
pain to Washington. It is true that the coun- 
try was full of anarchy ; the government was 
reeling like a drunken man; a jnisillanimous, 
unpatriotic, jealous even dishonorable Con- 
gress was playing politics, forcing the child of 
his labors, sacrifices and prayers every day 
nearer the brink of the precipice. Nor did he 
shrink from the glittering oft'er from any 
tliouglit of unsuccess. By no means. "The 
army," says Mr. Lodge, "was the one coherent, 

[14] 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 

active and thoroughly organized body in the 

country. There would have been in fact no opVuion'^of'^ 

serious oi)position, iirobablv because there probable 

' ' ' " Success 

would have been no means of sustaining it. 
The absolute feebleness of the general govern- 
nuuit was shown a few weeks later, when a 
recently recruited regiment of Pennsylvania 
troops mutinied, and obliged Congress to leave 
Philadelphia. — This mutiny was put down sud- 
denly and etfectively by Washington, very wroth 
at the insubordination of raw troops who had 
neither fought nor sutfered. " 1 quote again 
from Mr. Lodge: "'From the surrender of 
Yorktown to the day of his retirement from the 
Presidency, he worked unceasingly to estab- 
lish union and strong government in the 
counti'y he had made independent. He accom- 
])lished this great labor more successfully by 
honest and lawful methods than if he had taken 
the path of the strong-handed savior of society, 
and his work in this field did more for the wel- 
fare of his country than all his battles. — To 
have refused supreme rule, and then to have 
effected in the spirit and under the forms of 
free government all and more than the most 
brilliant of military chiefs could have achieved 
by absolute power, is a glory which belongs to 
Washington alone." All will agree that Mr. 
Lodge makes a just estimate of the noble act of 
Washington in refusing a crown. Everv one, ^^'.■- .Caii.vie's 

'^ '^ ■ ' 01)1111011 

with the exception of Thomas Carlyle, would 

[15] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

endorse it. But tlien Mr. Carlyle did not love 
America — iieitlier does America love Mr. C*ar- 
lyle. For it is wholly capable of seeing' that 
the man who found Ennn-son barren, conld un- 
derestimate the man who wlii])iied the Eu<>'lish 
armies, and faib'd to grasp the supreme power 
when the o])])()rtunity presented itself. BuL 
Wasliiugton was a man of faith that he had 
been directed by Jehovali. ''I consider it my 
indispensable duty," he said at the end of liis 
resignation as General, "to close this last sol- 
emn act of my olficial life hy commending the 
interests of our dearest country to the protec- 
tion of Almighty God, and tliose who have the 
superintendence of them to His holy kee])ing." 
"It was," says AVoodrow AVilson, "as if spoken 
on the morrow of the day upon which lie ac- 
cepted his commission : the same diffidence, the 
same trust in a power greater and higher than 
his ow^i." 
Ill the Washington was twice elected President 

I'n-sident's 

c'liair without oppositiou. He served two terms of 

four years each. He refused to be elected for 
a third term. AVhen he was elected for the 
first time he accepted the oifice only after Ham- 
ilton had plead with him that it was his duty. 
Governor Johnson, of Maryland had written 
him that he could explain to any one else excejit 
him why the country must have him. "To 
make any one else President," says Mr. Wilson, 
"it seemed to men everywhere, would be like 

[Kil 



As si-cat as 
I'cilit ii'iaii 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 

crowning' a subject while the King was by." 
Tliose two terms of liis Presidency were tiimnlt- 
iions years. Tliey included the time of tlie foi-- 
mation of jiolitical parties; they embraced the 
years of the French Revolution; it was then 
that the battU^ of the giants on tlie formation 
of a National Bank was fought in Congress; it 
was the time of the whiskey r(>bellion; it was 
the time when we began the claiming of the 
empire of the great West. Through it all 
AVashington was as great and righteous and '"^ <'t'"^'>""i 
efificient as he was when General. In fact, he 
reached the high-water-mark of his career 
wdien he laid his stern hand upon Jefferson's 
policy to embroil and embrangle us in a Avibl 
and entangling alliance with France engaged 
in a revolution which had no resemblance to 
ours. Hut for the wisdom aii<l firmness of 
Washington, Jefferson would have brought 
upon us the vengeance of Eurojie. The last 
year of his Presidency was ([uiet aiul prosper- 
ous. The country again idolized him. Men 
Avho had abused him for preveidiug an alliance 
with France and for signing a treaty with 
England grew ashamed of themselves. When 
the day canu^ to yield n]) his office to John 
Adams "all eyes were bent upon that great 
figure in blacdv velvet." On his way to th(> 
Oa])it()l the peo]ile thronged after him. It was 
not the new President, but their beloved Wash- 
ington they desii'ed to see. The scene touched 

[17] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

him. "No man ever saw him so moved." As 
the tears coursed their way down liis cheeks, 
the hearts of the people were bent in sorrow. 
He went back to Mount Vernon to tbe country- 
life he loved. Unfortunately, this time was 
brief. On the 12th of December, 17i)!), on going- 
the rounds of liis farms, he caught a violent 
cold which settled in his throat. By evening of 
the next day the end had come. "He was calm 
the day through," says Wilson, "as in time of 
battle ; knowing what betided, but not fearing 
it; steady, noble, a warrior tigure to the last; 
and he died as those who loved him might have 
The world wishcd to scc him die." When the news sped 

grieves at 

his death ovcr the uatiou the people sf)bbe(l with the 

deepest grief. The tlags and standards of 
France were hung with crepe and the flags of 
the English fleet were lowered to half-mast. 
The report of Talleyrand, the French Foreign 
Minister, constitutes one of the finest eulogies 
ever made to mortal man : I quote its closing 
paragraph: "The man who, amid the decad- 
ence of modern ages, first dared believe that 
he could inspire degenerate nations with cour- 
age to rise to the level of republican virtues, 
lived for all nations, and for all centuries ; and 
this nation which first saw in the life and suc- 
cess of that illustrious man a foreboding of his 
destiny, and therein recognized a future to be 
realized and duties to be performed, had every 
right to class him as a fellow citizen. T there- 

[18] 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 

fore submit to the first consul tlie following 
decree: "Bonaparte, First Gonsul of the Re- 
public decrees as follows : Article 1. A statue 
is to be erected to General Washing-ton. 
Article 2. This statue is to be placed in one of 
the squares of Paris, to be chosen by the Min- 
ister of the Interior, and it shall be his duty to 
execute the present decree." 

As we turn away from the tomb of the great 
we become reflective. The greatness of Wash- 
ington compels us to this. Even in his youth 
he was a man of high spirit and just percep- 
tions, of great moral as well as physical 
courage. He always acted in accordance with 
his sense of justice. A case in point was when 
Governor Dinwiddle raised ten companies with 
as many independent captains, and ruled that 
there should be no officer above the rank of 
Ca])tain. As Washington was already Golonel, 
the act was considered demeaning by him and 
he went back to his farm at Mount Vernon. 
The Governor was surprised, (and Thomas 
Penn was concerned that Colonel Washington's 
conduct was so imprudent.) With this sort of sei'f"ivstT!.iiit 
])ehavior in mind, how can you account for the 
fact that he always impressed those who knew 
him best as having a great restraint and self- 
command? His intimate friends knew him as 
a man whom they had never seen in a passion. 
Yet, we know there were stories of outbursts 
against cowardice in the army, disobedience 

[19] 



THE amp:rican soul 

and iK'olect on the part of overseers, and theft 
from trespassers. We have all heard the story 
of the poacher who was shooting wild-fowl on 
Wasliino'ton's game preserves. The villain, as 
Washington approached him to scold him, 
levelled his gun upon liim. The act aroused 
the fighting spirit of the man who loved the 
whistle of bullets. He plunged his horse into 
the water, snatched the gun from the hands of 
the rogue and thraslied him. This was the 
Washington who made it lively for the cowardly 
GenUema™'' «oldier or cvcu the disobedient general. That 
other Washington, the silent, wholesome, open- 
minded, red-blooded product of the polite 
training of Lord Fairfax, Greenway Court and 
Mount Vernon — the Washington of that mar- 
velous self-poise — the Washington who, when 
others were rending their garments and casting 
the dust into the air stood calm amid the storm, 
self-reflective and far-visioned — the Washing- 
ton who could ])ilot a revolution when tlie 
storms of passion which swept across his soul 
pressed down upon that lake of fire in his own 
breast and compelled its calm — the Washington 
who could repress his feelings when an incom- 
petent Congress expected everything of him 
and his ragged, starving army and yet did 
nothing for them in the way of sending sup- 
plies — the Washington who could kneel in the 
snow at Valley Forge, amid the bloody foot- 
prints of a shoeless soldiery and confidently 

[20] 



GEORGE AVASIIINGTON 

expect great things of the God of battles — the 
Washington who conld almost bankrupt his 
large estate that he might serve his country — - 
the Washington who could wait for time and 
events to disprove the accusations of the 
Conway-Gates Conspiracy against him — the 
Washington w^ho could, by that great, quiet, 
presence of his, allay the fiery antagonisms of 
rival statesmen — the Washington who could steerhig a 

" Revolution 

successfully steer a revolution, shape a Consti- 
tution and lay down his task at the close with 
gratitude to God and as much revered by his 
fellow citizens as was Solon by the Athenians — ■ 
the Washington who far surpassed in his states- 
manship any of his critics or admirers — the 
Washington whom Napoleon regarded as one 
of the greatest generals of History — this was 
the Washington (let me say it calmly) the 
serene, unruffled, urbane, quiet spirit whose 
presence gave him precedence over all, and 
whose unsullied character, pre-eminent abil- 
ities, modesty, masterful self-control, and yet 
withal, Olympian reserve power, were simply 
overwhelming. 

We have had no man in American history b" Himserf 
like unto him — no man comparable to him in all 
things, though others equalled him — even ex- 
celled him — in some things. At this late day 
we view him with a passionless gaze, and weigh 
his qualities with unfevered mind. Wisq 
writers of history are in no danger of con- 

[21] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

tributiiiji' an error of judgment to our Annals 

by failure to place him first in time and first in 

Present gTeatuess of the American Presidents. We 

vit.ality ... 

need not wonder that he is the livest man ni 
America to-day and that the interpretation of 
his advice against entangling alliances with 
European governments has been the storm- 
center of the greatest debate in the session of 
the Congress just closed and re-convened. 



[22J 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
Copyiiglitcd hy Harris & Ewing, Washington, 1), C, 



*'He stood a. lieroic fig'ure, in the centre of a. heroic 
epoch. He is the true story of the American ])eo})le 
in his time." — Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

"If I could save the Union without freeino: any 
shive, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing 
all the slaves, I would do it ; and if I could save it by 
freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also 
do that." — Abraham Lincoln, in a letter to Horace 
Greeley in 1862, as quoted by Congressman Jose^ih G. 
Cannon. 

"And tlien, from fifty fameless years 
In fjuiet Illinois was sent 
A word that still the Atlantic hears, 
And Lincoln was the Lord of his event." 

— IJrinkwater's Plai/. 



Abraham Lincoln 



Now he is witii liic aiifs, «hiu oiuiudii ;■. ;■■ 
^ ' Lincoln 

in tlie ji'ray < 



ith the acres, said Stanton ;^.'"'|''="' 

^ ' Lincoln 

dawn of the winter day as 
the stertorous breathing ceased, and the great 
lieart was stiHed," said Henry Watterson, the 
greatest of editors and one of the greatest of 
statesmen, of Abraham Lincoln, in The (^os- 
mo]iolitan ten years ago. "His life" continues 
Mr. Watterson, "had been an e])ic in homespun, 
his death, like that of Caesar, beggars tlie arts 
and resources of Melpomene of the mimic 
scene." 

Why does the great Southerner give such a a south 

crncr'.s 

trd)ute to the leader of the forces against Justice 
which he fought in tiie Civil AVar? Mr. Wat- 
terson answers this (|uestion himself. He says: 
"With respect to Abraham Lincoln, I, as a 
Southern man and Confederate soldier, here 
render unto Caesar the things that urc Caesar's, 
even as I would render unto God the things 
that are God's." 

Does not the great editor tell us the truth 
when he suggests that facts of history are all 
invalided in the presence of that terrible 
tragedy? Must we not iiuleed have to go to 
tiction for a ])aradel of that tragedy of 
tragedies for the peoj)le of America, especially 

[27] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

of that part of America South of the Potomac 
A fateful and Ohio rivers? Says John Hay, in speaking- 

of that scene: "Within the narrow compass of 
that stage-box that night were five human be- 
ings : the most illustrious of modern heroes 
crowned with the most stupendous victory of 
modern times; his beloved wife, proud and 
happy; two betrothed lovers with all the 
promise of felicity that youth, social position, 
and wealth could give them, and a young actor, 
handsome as Endymion upon Latmus, the idol 
of his little world. The glitter of fame, happi- 
ness and ease was u]>on the entire group; l)nt 
in an instant everything was to be changed 
with the blinding swiftness of enchantment. 
Quick death was to come on the central figure 
of that company. Over all the rest the black- 
est fates hovered menacingly: fates from 
which a mother might pray that kindly death 
might save her children in infancy. One was 
to wander Avith the stain of murder on his soul, 
with the curses of a world upon his name, with 
a price set upon his head, in frightful physical 
pain, till lie died a dog's death in a burning 
barn. Tlie stricken wife was to pass the rest 
of her days in melancholy and madness; of 
those two young lovers, one was to slay the 
other, and then end his life a raving maniac." 
Those are dramatic words of Mr. Lincoln's 
What the private secretary. What did this assassination 

Crime meant . , . . ^t ,i n a i • tt 

in the North mean tor tlie victorious JNorth « A rekindling 

[ 28 ] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

of passion in the breasts of some men wlio liad 
quenched those fires and longed for a reunion 
of the brothers ; a confirmation of the hatreds 
of the shallow whose existence depended upon 
gorgets of vengeance and morsels of further 
human suffering ; a redoubling of energies on 
the part of the great and the wise to keep alive 
the great spirit of the martyr-President now 
separated from its human temple. That is 
Avhat it meant in tiie North. What did the 
whistle of that criminal bullet mean for the 
►South ? Project yourself into that desolate 
section, in those exciting times. What do we 
see there? The South sits at her windoAv in the ^^'■"t it 

meant in the 

elegant, tattered finery of pre-war days, ^outh 
maiuially helpless from never having had to do 
her own labor — her hands yet white and deli- 
cate because toilless. As she gazes from her 
window, now unglazed by the shock of war, 
she is widowed and childless; her lands are un- 
planted ; her live-stock have been slain or 
confiscated; her houses and factories are 
ruined, many of them have been burned; her 
storehouses have been ransacked by friend and 
foe alike; her slaves have become voters aiul 
legislators and thousands have followed in the 
wake of the invading army. Cropless, labor- 
less, moneyless, comfortless, wan and weak, 
tired and tearful, haggard and heroic she 
reaches out her hand for help. Only one man Oniy One 
]]i the Nation, agam under one flag, can give it 

[29 1 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

to her. That man had said to her, on a noted 
occasion, that she ''should come baclv home and 
behave" lierself. He was a man of great lieart 
and great comnnin sense. He was a man "of 
admiralde intellectnal aplomb." He was a 
man who had the warmth of the Southern sun 
in his blood. "He sprang from a Virginia 
pedigree and was born in Kentucky." This 
was the man to whom the South, in her 
widowed, heli)less condition, was looking for 
hel]i. This was the man who said to the 
])eo]ile : "1 have no prejudice against the 
Southern j)eo])le. They are just what we 
wouhl be in their situation." That was tlie 
man wlio said to one of his oAvn War- 
Congresses: "The ]H'0]ile of the South are not 
more responsil)le for the original introduction 
of this property than are the people of the 
North, and, when it is remembered how unhesi- 
tatingly we all use cotton and sugar and share 
the profits of dealing in them, it nuiy not l)e 
quite safe to say that the South has been more 
responsible than the North for its contiini- 
ance." As the worn and still bleeding South 
tottered to her feet and held out her hands 
toward this her former lover, there was sad 
appeal in her eyes and hopefulness in her heart. 
And why? She knew his iioble nature and her 
intuitions told her that he could never, would 
never, forget his first love. But alas ! alas ! in 

[30] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

a nioiiKMit of her radiant hope came the news 
that a madman's bullet had sung the requiem 
of the great head of the nation. 

It is true that some diseases are most danger- 
ous at the moment of convalescence — when one 
thinks liimself well then is he nearest death. 
The saying of Solon, the Athenian sage, so 
potent in tlie life of the rich Croesus, has stood 
the test of the ages, that is, that no man can be 
])r()])erly estimated during his life-time. The 
world lost heavily in the taking away of Abra- 
ham Lincoln. The chaplet it has placed on his 
temples is a noble one. The North thought 
when lie fell, that the grief was hers and only 
hers. It was the inspired lute of her own Walt 
Whitman \\hich sang her moui'uful but sweet 
lamentation : 

O Ca|)tain! my Ca])t;iin! our fearful trip is My captain 
done. 
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize 
we sought is won, 
The port is near, the bells T hear, the people 
all exulting 
While follow eyes the steady Keel, the vessel 
grim and daring; 
15u1 () heart! heart ! heart! 
() the bleeding drops of red, 
Whci'c oil the deck my Captain lies, 
Fallen, cold and dead. 

[ 31 ] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

Captain ! my Captain ! rise up and hear the 

bells 
Rise up — for you the tiag is tlung — for you the 

bugle trills ; 
For you the bouquets and ribboned wreaths — 
for you the shores a-crowding, 
For you they call, the swaying mass, their 
eager faces turning ; 

Here Captain! dear father! 
This arm beneath your head ! 

It is some dream that on the deck, 
You've fallen cold and dead. 

My Captain does not answer, his lijis are ]iale 
and still, 
My father does not feel my arm, he has no 
pulse nor Avill, 
The ship is anchor 'd safe and sound, its voyage 
closed and done. 
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in 
with object won. 
Exult Shores, and ring bells! 
But I with mournful tread, 

Walk the deck my Captain lies. 
Fallen cold and dead. 



What makes This pocm was pubHshcd in the fiery, excit- 

(ir'eat"''™ iug and bitter days of 1865, immediately suc- 

ceeding the murder. Do you not notice its 
chief glory? Is it in its swinging rythmic 
metre aiul beauteous expression that real 

[32] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Americans have cause for congratulation and 
thankfniness? Yes, but these do not constitute 
its Jiig'hest excellence. What does? Is it in 
the fact that it is one of the purest and sweetest 
poems AVhitman ever wrote? Yes, this criti- 
cism is also true ; but it contains far more than 
this for all large-spirited men and women of 
our great country. What is it, indeed? It is 
that though sung in those days of burning an- 
ger and misunderstanding, there is not a single 
word of rancor in it. It is not a Psalm of a Song of 

. Ht'tlilelieni 

David, but song oi Bethlehem — a message of 
peace and not of war — the voice of wisdom and 
not tlie product of "the narrow forehead of 
the fool" — It is written in the spirit of the 
great Lincoln himself; it is written in the spirit 
in which Col. Watterson wrote on the Lincoln 
Centenary celebration : "Only a little while and 
there will not be a man living who saw service 
on either side of that great struggle. Its pas- 
sions long ago faded from manly bosoms. 
Meanwhile it is required of no one, whichever 
flag he served under, that he make renuncia- 
tions dishonoring himself. Each may leave to 
posterity the casting of the balance between 
antagonistic schools of thought and opposing 
camps in action, where in both the essentials 
of fidelity and courage Avere so amply met. 
Nor is it the part of wisdom to regret a tale 
that is told. The issues that evoked the strife 
of sections are dead issues. The conflict which 

[33] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

was thouo'ht to be irreconcilable and was cer- 
tainly inevitable, ended more than forty years 
ago. It was fonght to its conclusion by fear- 
less and uprig'lit men. To some the result was 
logical ; to others it was disappointing ; to all it 
was final." What have we to add to these 
manly words of Henry Watterson ? Just this : 
that aliens who quarrel should be reconciled, 
External brothers who quarrel must. The brother who 

Dangers in . , . . 

Brothers' sluits liunselt in his room and makes his door 

Quarrels n i • 

the dead-hne between himselt and his brother 
not merely shuts off all love and progress, but 
exposes his premises to exploitation and attack. 
Americanization has lately"* been writ large 
upon our American skies. Its proper interpre- 
tation and the solution of its problems are 
bound u]) in one word — a George Washington 
word, an Abraham Lincoln word — the word 
union — not only Constitutional union but per- 
No Wisdom soiial uiiion. There is absolutelv no justifica- 

in Sectional . , . . . " 

Prejudice tioii ±or scctioiial prcjudicc. Eventually it 

must lead, if not to presumption and insult, 
])ossiI)ly attack from outsiders, at least to a re- 
newal of civil strife. When could such a thing 
take place? Just so soon as the issue at vari- 
ance becomes large enough. Could we ever 
have so great a question in America? When 
New England first sold her slaves to Southern 
cotton and sugar planters, who then foresaw 
that the question of African slavery had al- 
ready been decided against by the fates? But, 

[34] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

as a matter of fact, ti'reat issues are not needed 
for the uiileashin<i' of the do<;'s of war. Small 
questions — worthless questions — are frequently 
the oeeasions (not the causes) of war. Note 
the 8erajavo incident — tlie destruction of tlie 
Maine — the firing- on Sumter. We all know 
tliat tlie murder of the Grand Duke of Austria 
and his family, in Serbia, was only the occasion 
of the late world war ; the blowing" up of the 
battleship, Maine, was not the cause of our war 
with Cuba; the tiring on Sumter by a battery 
of Confederates in Charleston was not tlie 
cause of our Civil War. Germany's desire to 
expand; the United States' desire to relieve its 
neighbor of Spanish tyranny and oppression; 
the abrogation of African Slavery were the 
causes, but not the occasions of the respect- 
ive wars named. Issues become greatl.y 
exaggerated when prejudices run high or com- 
mercial necessities require. Whenever tlie ,^\'ip" c''^',' 

W ar would 

material wealth and iiopulation of the two sec- '"^ possible 

111 America 

tions of our country become nearly if not quite 
ecpially balanced, then sectional prejudices, if 
prevalent, shall cause the hairy, bloody crest 
of civil war to again become erect. How is this 
possible? By the continued development of 
the South iit its jn-esent rate of material ]n-og- 
ress ; by the turning of immigration southward ; 
or by a realignment of sectional lines by means 
of jiortions of the great West, the new West, 
the ])ost belluiii ])art of the nation, becoming 

[35] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

sympathetic commercially, with the new South. 
Is there any real danger of this to-day? I do 
not so believe. We may thank God for the 
growth of the anti-sectional spirit in our coun- 
try. I am sure there is no real manly American 
in the South who would advocate war against 
the North even if it were revealed to him by 
the fates, or otherwise, that the South would 
eventually win? And why? There are two 
reasons: The first is, that the spirit of Washing- 
ton and Lincoln is too strongly vital in the 
rTosi*ng^'^™ hearts of Southern men and women. The hqc- 
^^""^ ond is that the section of the country which 

would seek its empire would seek its own ruin 
eventually. This has been the history of all 
States seeking monopoly of government. 
"Hardwick declares," says David Starr Jordan 
in his Human Harvest, "that war is essential 
to the life of a nation ; war strengthens a luitioii 
morally, mentall.y and physically." Such 
statements as these set all history at defiance. 
War can only waste and corrupt. "All war is 
bad, some only worse than others. " " War has 
its origin in the evil passions of men," and even 
when iniavoidable or righteous its effects are 
most baleful. The final effect of each strife for 
empire has been the degradation or extinction 
of the nation which led in the struggle." Good 
and true words ! What is true of luitions is 
true of sections. It is consequently the duty of 
every manly American to fight sectional 'sm in 

[36] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

the true Lincolnian spirit. What is that spirit? 
Let me put it in this way : There is a word 
which binds into one bundle — one multiple — 
all the nature and life and work of Abraham 
Lincoln. In that word was pictured, as the sun TUr woni 

PI ''Union'' 

IS pictured ni the ram-drop, the g'lor.y oi the 
American government and people. It is the 
word Union. Do you see what I nu^an ? In 
union there is strength; in disunion there is 
weakness. In union there is progress ; in dis- 
union there is retrogression. In union there is 
independence; in disunion there is dependence. 
In union there is self-respect; in disunion there 
is humiliation and insult. In union there is 
freedom; in disunion tliere is slavery. The 
word became so strong a force in his life that 
it predominated him. "Stevens," said he to ^„.-|/|'""'**''' 
the Vice-President of tlie Southern Confeder- 
acy, in that famous meeting to settle differences 
and end the war, "let me write 'Union' at the 
top of the page and you may write under it 
whatever you choose." In tlie presence of 
those noble words, has the tire-eater and dema- 
gogical politician, North or South, who l)attens 
upon sectional prejudices, any real place on 
American soil? I do not think so. Let us add 
these words from his second inaugural. They 
are bright from the furnace and wall never 
lose their lustre so long as the facade of the 
temple of American freedom — which means the 
union of its re-united iHM)]ile — looks out upon 

[37] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 



A Coronet 
of Freedom 



Prosperous 
Sisters 



the rest of the world with a spotless purity ! 
"With maliee toward none; with charity for 
all; with firmness in the rij>'ht, as God y'ives ns 
to see the right let us strive on to finish the 
work we are in ; to bind up the nation's wounds, 
to care for him who shall have borne tlie battle, 
and for his widow and his orphan; to do all 
which ma.y achieve and cherish a just and last- 
ing peace among ourselves and Avith all na- 
tions." What jewel is the most valuable and 
sparkling by far of the jewels which make up 
this wonderful passage — a real coronet of 
American freedom and safety and wisdom? It 
is this: ''to do all which may achieve and cher- 
ish a JNst and lasting peace aniotuj ourselves." 
Let us for a moment again turn our eyes 
upon the South. She again sits at her window, 
but no longer with pensive, wan and wasted 
weeping. She is no longer in tatters and want. 
She looks out upon a landscape of snow, 
strangely intermingled with silver and gold. 
The snow is her cotton — a great depth of 
it ; the silver and gold are her Indian corn 
and her wheat — exhaustless veins of them. 
In the near background may be seen, 
suspended over her growing cities (black when 
first ejected from massive stacks, but empur- 
pled by contact with the golden Southern sun) 
the haze of smoke indicative of a phenomenal 
growth of her manufactures and commerce. 
As the South looks ui)on this scene she smiles 



[38] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

radiantly, and points it out to her former rival, 
but now warm sympathizer — in fact they are 
more closely united than ever before. Their 
cliildren have intermarried; they have stood 
toji'ether on the same battlefields; the sons of 
the South have gone to the North ; the sons of 
the North have come to the South ; homes have 
become interchanged; the Northern merchant 
or manufacturer has become the Southern land- 
owner; the Southern laud-owner has become 
the Northern merchant or manufacturer; a new 
generation has been the product of this union — 
a real American union — disru})ted on the ques- 
tion of African slavery by war because neither 
South nor North would listen, at the moment of 
crisis, to the words of Abraham Lincoln. The 
two sisters turn and grasp each other by both 
hands, gaze kindly each into the eyes of the 
other while the spirit of the martyred President 
once villitied by both, but now loved by both, 
looming large in their visualization says, "Love 
yc each other and all shall be right with the 
world." 



[39] 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 




ROBERT E. LEE 
Copyrighted by Miley & Son, Lexington, Va. 



"In him all that was |»uii' and lofty in mind and 
purpose found lodgment . He came nearer the ideal 
of a soldier and Christian general than any man we 
can think of, for he was a greater soldier than Have- 
lock, and equally as devout a Christian." — Extract 
from editorial in The New York Herald. 

"I have met with many of the great men of my 
time, but Lee alone impressed me with the feeling 
that I was in the })resence of a man who was cast in 
a grander mould and made of different and finer 
metal than all other men. 

— Lord W'olsele/i, British deneraJ. 

"The Conunand ng (Jeneral earnestly exhorts the 
troops to al)sta.n with most scrupulous care from 
unnecessary or wanton injury to private i)roperty; 
and he enjoins u|)on all officers to arrest and l)ring 
to summary jnuiishment all who shall in any way 
offend against the orders on this subject." — General 
Orders 73, Chambershury, Fa., June 27, 1863. 
Page 68 



Robert lidward Lee 

IN one of the many rooms of "Stratford," uoix-rt 
the famous Lee homestead, m Virginia, on 
January 19th, 1807, the eyes of Robert Edward 
Lee first opened upon the world to wliieh he 
was to add the lustre of a great genius and the 
halo of an almost faultless personal life. Had 
his great mother, Anne Hill Carter Lee, as she 
clasped the babe to her bosom on that winter's 
day, visualized his great and fateful career, 
her heart would luive trembled Avhile it swelled 
with a pardonable pride. His mother con- 
tributed to his greatness not only the blood of 
Robert the Bruce, which coursed in her veins, 
but the rarest and finest instruction. His 
ideals were of the noblest. Three lives envel- 
oped him and moulded the man from material 
without dross: Jesus Christ, his mother and 
George Washington. This constituted him a 
man without oti'ence, of great personal purity, 
and of a noble dignity. He was so regarded as 
a youth, as a Cadet at West Point (from whicli 
he graduated in 1820 M-itli higli honor), in the 
Mexican War, where he attained distinction, 
and throughout the Civil War. No American 
was so like Washington as was Robert E. Lee. 
They were both men of great physical conieli- 

[45] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

ness and masterful presence. Had they lived 
in the days of the finest sculptured marbles, 
perpetuant of ideals of Olympian Zeus, 
both would have been sought out by Pheidias. 
They were both men of the greatest military 
genius, the loftiest honor, the most distin- 
guished truthfulness, the noblest courage and 
the most marvellous self-command under any 
circumstances which might arise. 

There is no need of going back of June 1, 

1862, to estimate the active career of General 

Lee. LTp to that time he had but little prestige. 

Great The grcatcst soldier of the war had his hands 

Military _ '^ _ 

Talents f[^([ (Inriug thc previous vear and two months, 

Aot Known c- i . 

by President Davis. The judgment of the lat- 
ter, in keeping the peerless fighter in a merely 
advisory and general service, was unfortunate 
for the South. The Federal bullet that tem- 
porarily took Joseph E. Johnston from the 
field, took away a brave man ; but it performed 
the greatest service of the war to the Confed- 
erates, by leaving Mr. Davis in great need of 
a commander-in-chief. Lee was the logical 
choice. Indeed, it was almost a Hobson's 
choice, on the part of Jefferson Davis, who was 
himself sometimes on the battlefield (in stove- 
pipe hat.) 
New Activity Froui the moment Lee had taken his bear- 
ings, the high-spirited generals under him felt 
the reins tighten. It was the driving of Apollo 
instead of Phaethon, and the fierce-mettled 

[4G] 



ROBERT E. LEE 

steeds got back into their course. Tlie officers 
of tlie line, inclined to criticise the act that 
placed a tame staff official over "soldiers", soon 
had the ennui driven from their lives. Ag- 
gression was the key-note of Lee. Gaines' ^lill 
and Malvern Hill, the first great successes of 
the new commander, commensurate with his 
first opportunity, witnessed a brilliant defeat 
of a brilliant soldier, George B. McClellan, and 
relieved Richmond, for three years, of wdiat J-euI'ved"' 
appeared certain capitulation. The fact that 
Lee went to the attack in the face of tlie advice 
of his generals at that time, showed his self- 
reliance, and the victory over a great army, 
showed the wnsdom of his plans. His great 
losses, in those seven days' fighting around 
Richmond, was not due to any error of his. 
"However it was," says Thomas Nelson Page, 
"Lee relieved Richmond, and the war, from 
being based on a single campaign, was now a 
matter of years and treasure, and the years 
and the treasure that it required were mainly 
due to Lee's transcendant genius. It is prob- 
able that but for Lee the war would not have 
lasted tw^o years." 

The disastrous defeat of Pope at the second 
battle of Manassas, within six weeks further, 
established Lee's reputation as a master of 
strategy and attracted general attention to the 
wonderful fighting qualities of "Stonewall stonewaii 
Jackson". E. Benjamin Andrews, a northern rising star 

[47] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

critic, says of Jackson tliat he was not only an 
intensely religious man but also a stern dis- 
ciplinarian. "In consequence, when the clay 
of battle came, there was not a man in the corps 
who (lid not feel sure that if he shirked duty 
Stonewall Jackson would shoot him and God 
Almighty would damn him. This heijied to 
render Jackson's thirty thousand ]ierhaps the 
most efficient fighting nuichine which had ap- 
peared upon the battlefield since the Ironsides 
of Oliver Cromwell." One feels this last 
statement to be true, and, it being true, General 
Lee was peculiarly fortunate in having such a 
Suggests lieutenant. After the second Manassas, "Lee's 

Proi>osition 

for boldest and possibly the most masterlv piece of 

Iiulfpendence _ ■ ' 

strategy in the whole M^ar, and one of the most 
daring movements in the history of wars," Lee 
wrote to President Davis that the Confederate 
States could propose with propriety, to the 
United States, the recognition of the South 's 
independence. It was partly for this purpose 
he entered Maryland, hoping the people of that 
State would declare for the South and thus 
strengthen the chances for peace. But Mary- 
Fataiity of land remained neutral. Unfortunately for the 

a handful ^ 

of cigars causc of the South, also, Lee's plan for the cap- 

ture of McClellan's army and the eventual cap- 
ture of Washington was found wrapped around 
a small bundle of cigars carelessly lost by some 
Confederate official, on the site of D. II. Hill's 
encampment at Frederick. Notwithstanding, 

[48] 



ROBERT E. LEE 

he did not recross the Potomac until he had 
captiired Harper's Perry with 12,500 prisoners, 
and had, at Antietam, tlie most sang-uinary bat- 
tle of the war, withstood successfully the 
s])leiidid fighting troops of McClellan's large 
army. His challenge for a fight the next day 
after the battle, not being accepted, he crossed 
to the Southern side of the Potomac. It was 
immediately after Antietam that Lee sent 
Stuart for the second time, entirely around the 
Army of McClellan — a distance of 126 miles, 
with 1800 men, — one of the most brilliant cav- 
alr}^ actions in history. He had no losses. 

Although the accidental finding of Lee's M''itary 

Faint' 

despatch made Lee's invasion of Maryland a ''i<i«'nse( 
failure, generally speaking, what he accom- 
plished there with only 35,000 badly equijiped 
troops opposed by the finely furnished 87,000 
troops of McClellan, added greatly to his mili- 
tary fame. The campaign was one of the most 
daring in all warfare. The world suddenly, by 
this act, and the seven days of earlier fighting 
about Richmond, awaked to the fact that Lee, 
hitherto known as a brilliant tactician of de- 
fense, was as aggressive as Hannibal and as 
daring as Alexander. By mid-December Lee 
added the victory of Fredericksburg, a defen- 
sive battle, to liis military glory. General 
Burnside, who had su])erseded General McClel- 
lan, sacrificed on that terrible altar, 12,653 as 
l)rave men as ever fought, and the equally 

[49] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

brave Confederate army lost 5,322. The world 
run anew with praises of Lee. Many thought 
the war won. But Lee was sad. He greatly 
desired peace, and hoped that the North would 
grant both that and independence for the 
Christmas South. Writing, to his wife on Christmas, im- 

mediately succeeding his victory, he said: "I 
will commence this holy day by writing to you. 
My heart is filled with gratitude to God for the 
unspeakable mercies with which He has blessed 
us in this day; for those He has granted us 
from the beginning of life, and particularly 
those He has vouchsafed us during the past 
year. What should become of us without His 
crowning help and protection? Oh! if our 
people would only recognize it and cease from 
vain self-boasting and adulation, how strong 
would be my belief in final success and happi- 
ness to our country But what a cruel thing is 
war to separate and destroy families and 
frieiuls, and mar the ])urest .joys aiul hap])iness 
God has granted us in this world, to till our 
hearts with hatred instead of love for our neigh- 
bors, and to devastate the fair face of this 
beautiful world !" 

I think we may all say with Thomas Nelson 
Page, wlio (piotes this letter in iiis Life of Le(^ : 
"Should the portrait of a victorious general be 
drawn, I know no better example than this 
simple outline of a Christian soldier drawn out 
of his heai't that Christnuis morning in his tent, 

\ •'30 ] 



ROBERT E. LEE 

while the world rang with his victory two 
weeks before. It is a portrait of which the 
South may well l)e proud."" I should like to 
amend this by adding that it is a protrait of 
which every broad-spirited, red-blooded Amer- 
ican may well be ])r()ud. 

Two months and a little more ' and Lee chancei- 

lorsville 

had added the most brilliant to his string of 
victories — Cliancellorsville. The plan of bat- 
tle, on the part of Lee, was audacity itself. 
Ten thousand troops he kept himself to watch 
the "fighting Joe". Twenty-five thousand he 
sent with Jackson in command, to encircle 
Hooker's far flung right and destroy it. This 
was done most effectually, and Geiu'ral 
Hooker's noble army escaped entire destruc- 
tion, as most military critics say, by the acci- 
dental, mortal wounding of Stonewall Jackson 
by his own troops. It was a battle in which 
the bravest troops on both sides fought for 
every inch of ground ; it was the successful is- 
sue of an audacious attempt of Lee against 
an army of tine fighters, outnumbering his 
own army two to one; it was a victory wliich 
placed Lee among tlie Avorld's great military 
tacticians and daring commanders and which 
set the tongues of people wagging in every 
capital in Europe. But withal, it was almost a Pyrrhic 

Victory 

a Pyrrhic victory, for in Jackson's fall that 
was lost which could not be replaced. The eyes 
which "burnt with a l)rilliant glow"" in battle, 

[51] 



THE AMERICAN 80UL 

were forever closed, and Lee regarded it as one 
of the blackest and most inifortunate days of 
his life. With the tenderness of a woman he 
was caring for the wounded of both armies in 
Chancellorsville, when he received the news of 
Jackson's misha]). "T should have chosen," 
wrote Lee to his wounded General, "for the 
good of the country, to be disabled in your 
stead." Lee, in announcing the death of Jack- 
son to the army. May 11, 1863, said: "While 
we mourn his death we feel that his spirit still 
lives, and will inspire the whole army with his 
indomitable courage, and unshaken confidence 
in God as our hope and strength." 
Distress To liis wifc aud son he poured out his heart: 

."aeksou's "It IS a terrible loss" said he to his son. "I do 

^'°^^ iu)t know hoAv to replace him. Any victory 

would be dear at such a cost. But God's will 
be done." To General J. B. Hood, a week or 
more afterward he wrote: "I grieve much over 
the death of General .lackson. For our sakes, 
iu)t for his. He is hai)py and at peace. But 
his spirit lives with us. 1 hope it will raise up 
many Jacksons in our ranks." 
Greatness of It Is a mistake to make the greatness of a 

one man not i_- n xi 

wholly really great man rest essentially upon another. 

i'M,I!'ri"':in'other Tliosc lilstoriaus crr who declare that without 
McClellan, Grant would have been impossible 
as do those who think that Lee lost all when he- 
lost Stonewall Jackson. What McClellan did 
by way of organizing and equi])ping a great 

[52] 



ROBERT E. LEE 

army can not be left out of eonsideration when 
we estimate the success of Grant, nevertheless, 
the latter possessed intrinsically those qualities 
of stubbornness and indomitable perseverance 
which made him a great general. Precisely 
the same thing may be said of Lee and Jackson. 
There is no doubting the wonderful executive 
talent of the Achillean, swift-moving Jackson, 
in what he did for Lee, and there is no doubt 
that Lee would have accomplished a more posi- 
tive success if Jackson had not been killed, yet 
the great military genius of Lee emits its own 
deathless flames. 

From Culjieper, the day of a successful bat- 
tle, on -June 9th, in which Stuart's cavalrv 
defeated rather disastrously that under Stone- 
man, Lee wrote to his wife: "The country here 
looks very green and pretty, notwithstanding 
the ravages of war. What a beautiful world 
God in His loving kindness to His creatures has 
given us! What a shani(> that men endowed 
with reason and knowledge of right should 
mar His gifts !" 

Lee now hoped that by crossing the Potomac why Lee 
he might get provisions and shoes for his army Peinisyiviuiia 
and, if he could defeat the Federal army (now 
comnuinded by General Geo. G. Meade, an ac- 
complished and gallant otficer), the Nortli 
might be persuaded to grant peace and inde- 
pendence to the Confederate States. This is 
evidenced by a long letter written by him to 

[ 53 ] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

President Davis at the time. Thus beji'an tlie 

memorable campaign eulmiiiating in the battle 

Aviiat of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863). What Water- 

(icttyslmrg a 

meant to 1 00 was to Napoleou, Gettvsburg' was to Lee. 

Him 

\ R'tor Hug'o declared that Napoleon lost 
Waterloo because the rains of the previous 
night made it imjiossible to carry out his orders 
in reference to his artillery. Many historians 
say that Longstreet's failure to obey Lee's or- 
ders at Gettysl)nrg kept Lee's army from a 
great victory. President E. Benjamin An- 
drews, a Union soldier, declares that "had 
Stonewall Jackson l)een still alive and in the 
place of either" p]well or Longstreet, "the 
issue of the battle would almost to a certainty 
have been very different from what it was." 
Let it be known however, that Lee took ujion 
himself the wliob^ blame with his usual noble 
generosity. 
Hiame u'Von ^ uoticeablc thing about Lee was that he had 

Hims.-if sense enough to keep silent when he was mis- 

judged and criticised. Another was that he 
had heart enough to take all jiossible blame 
upon himself when it might have been i)Iaced 
upon weaker nuMi Avho failed him at critical 
moments. And his (puility of nuxlesty was 
clear, pure and without cant or false light. 
His manliness was so great, so vicarious, so 
militant that he bore, without comjJaint, the 
sins of others. "So far as has ever Ixmmi made 
ap()ar(Mit, every ])lan which Lee formed foi- the 

[54 J 



ROBEKT K. LEE 

battle of Gettysliiiro', every order which he 
gave, was wise and i'i;^ht," says President An 
drews. The latter eontinues : "In Prnssia's 
war with Austria in 1866, Von Moltke's plan at 
the hattle of Sadowa, where he s|)lendidly 
triunijihed, was in the same respect a close 
imitation of Lee's at Gettvsburg." Thomas Tudgnient 

ot tlie 

Nelson Page, in his Life of Lee, thinks that i''"ture 
"the judgment of the .future is likely to he, 
that while on the Northern side the eorjis com- 
manders made amends for lack of plan and 
saved the day hy their admirable co-operation, 
on the Southern side the i^lan of the command- 
ing general was defeated l)y the failure of the 
cordis commanders to act ]n"omptly aiul in con- 
cert." There was stinging criticism of Lee in 
the South for not winning the battle, as there 
was of Meade in the North for liis not Aviiuiing 
it and destroying the army of Lee. Meade was 
eventually superseded liy Grant. Lee stopped 
the mouths of his critics by taking the whole 
blame and offering to resign. 

Military critics will continue to talk of the (jreat 
battle ot Gettysburg as long as tlie ]u-niter s art on both sides 
lasts. Some will say it was a drawn battle, as 
Lee lay for ten days in the face of Meade's army 
and then leisurely crossed the l^otomac Avith 
4000 i)risoners. Whatever the verdict in this 
res])ect, all agree that never in the world's his- 
tory Avas more valorous tighting done on both 
sides. General Meade showed himself a noble 

[55,] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

soldier, and if Lee was defeated at GettysLurg', 
Meade enjoys a distinction that is his ah)ne. 
If Lee was defeated it was in the partienlar 
that he had to recross tlie Potomac witliout tlie 
snpplies for which he had primarily gone into 
Pennsylvania. He went back to Virginia al- 
ready exhausted of men and resources. The 
blockade tightened. To feed and clothe his 
men was a greater problem than to win battles, 
(h-ant's In the meantime Grant's ever-increasing 

Avalanche 

avalanche swept (h)wii against those ragged 
gray lines threatening to overwhelm them, but 
without success. President Davis said to Lee, 
who, after Gettysburg, asked for a man of 
greater ability to be put in his place: "To ask 
me to substitute for you some one, in my judg- 
ment, more tit to command or who would ])os- 
sess more of the confidence of the army, or of 
the reflecting men of the country, is to demand 
an impossibility." The days following, up to 
the close of the war, two years thereafter, 
sliowed this to be eminently true. The army 
of Northern Virginia ke]it its confidence in 
their leader to the bitter end. Had Hannibars 
troops, somewhat under the same sort of condi- 
tions, been so attached to their commander. 
Terrible Roiuc would liavc fallcii. Ill the cold winter of 

Condition of ,, ,^ , i n i? t •> 

Lee's Army 1.Sd4 thousauds ot Lcc s troops were Avithout 
blankets, socks or slioes, and often without 
food. But the army kept its spirit of cheerful- 
ness and devotion to its leader. Again and 

[56] 



ROBERT E. LEE 

again the grreat Grant, ^witli liis brave army, 
plnn^i'ed a<2'ain.st tliat jntifully few and 
meagTely clothed force; but Avithout exception 
experienced a thnd instead of a yielding. 
Again and again President Lincoln insisted 
that not Richmond, the capital of the Confeder- 
acy, but Lee's army, its defender, be made the 
objective of tlie army of the Potomac. But in 
vain. The tires which surrounded that Brun- 
hilde (»n the l)anks of the James could not be 
penetrated; for the central ''feed" of thos(>, 
fires Avas the heart and talents of Lee. North "i-^nit 

• ;iiliiiirc(l i 

and South, the Ameru-ans who love Lee never the somii 
fail to exalt his ojiponent. General Grant. 
They do this because of the great qualities of 
Grant, for Lee's front was the school master 
that led him to greatness. Had he not pos- 
sessed great qualities as a commander his large 
army could not have withstood the ])atehed 
and mended gray columns of that wonderful, 
aggressive tactician. This was seen at the 
Wiklerness, at Spottsylvania and at Cold Har- 
bor. At the former, Lee justified the criticism 
of Henderson who said that he was "a pro- 
found thinker folloAving the highest principles 
of the military art." There Grant showed the 
stuff of Avhich he was made. For, as Rodes 
says, "measured by casualties the advantage 
was with the Confederates" (Grant losing 17,- 
666 men, the Confederates half that number), 
Grant reported that he Avould fight again. To 

[57 1 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

quote Thomas Nelson Pap;o : "He had supreme 
self-confidence based on rare eonraji'e and rare 
ability to command and to ti<i]it. aiul he kne^v 
that he outnnnd)ered Le(^ more than two to one, 
and that in his army were the flower of the 
North, men as valorous as ever drew breath." 
Grant also possessed great shrewdness, for in- 
stead of either retreating or fighting he rushed 
foi'ward liis nuMi to Sjiottsylvania, a position, 
Aviiicli if attaiiunl, would make Richmond a 
sure ]>rey. But Lee divined his purpose and 
outstripjx'd him. At Spottsylvania, Lee's line 
was partially broken, and he determined to re- 
store it, as it had never been broken before. 

Heart-sick At that time having had the indescribable mis- 

over the loss e. i?i*i' j. iii ttti 

of (General tortuiu' ot h)snig liis great cavalry leader, J. E. 

'^'"'"■' B. Stuart, he j^laced himself at the head of the 

charging columns. But his uumi refused to 
move forward with their idolized commander 
in such hazard. He retired to his point of 
observation in the rear and the charge that 
restored the line was led by General John B. 
Gordon. The loss of dleneral Stuart cut Lee to 
the heart, and Avas ahnost as great a loss as the 
death of Stoiu^wall Jackson. He had been at 
West Point with Custis Lee, had been much in 
the Lee household, and General Lee loved him 
as he did his own son, Custis. Pie had declared 
on tlie death of Jackson, that he had lost his 
right hand; he lost his left hand when Stuart 
was shot from his horse at Spottsylvania. 

[58] 



ROBERT E. LEE 

General Sedjrwiek, the notable T'nion com- Sedgewiek's 

^ opinion of 

mander of the Sixth f'orps, of Grant's army, stuart 
said of General Stuart: "He was the hest cav- 
alry of^cer ever foaled in America."" Lee. in 
announcing Stuart's death to his army said: 
"To military capacity of a high order and to 
the nobler virtues of the soldier lie added the 
brighter graces of a pure life, guided and sus- 
tained by the Christian's faith and hope." It 
is noticeable that Lee, in estimating men, places 
the highest value upon their personal Christian 
lives. 

After Spottsylvania came Cold Harbor. The [jf/^fj^^ 
task of keeping from Richmond, Grant's army, ''^"'^"^ 
which hy this time nearly trel)led his own, Avas 
a terrible responsibility for Lee. An added 
seriousness of the situation was relieved Avhen 
General Butler, with :!."),()()() new troojis. was. 
as General Grant himself said, "soon in a bottle 
which Beauregard had corked, and with a small 
force could hold the cork in place." Xeverthe- Hatti!''''of 
less, 12,000 of those troops escaped and Avere ^"''''' Harbor 
added to Grant's legions Avhen he and Lee 
faced each other on that terrible field of Cold 
Harbor — McClellan's former position. Again 
and again Lee's line proved unassailable. 

Again and again Grant's inflexible resolution 
pushed his brave men into that terrible mael- 
strom of death, until finally they refused to move. 
It was another Balaclava on a greater scale. 
"Cold Harbor," said General Grant after the 

[59] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

war, "is the only battle I ever foiiglit tliat I 
would not fight over again nnder the cirenm- 
stanees." Was there ever a greater fighter than 
the American soldier? Certainly the courage 
shown by officers and men of both sides during 
tliat Virginia campaign, has not been surpassed 
by any soldiers in any age. The losses of 
Grant, in thirty days in that campaign were 
enormous in killed and wounded. Lee, while 
losing only about one-third as many could less 
afiford tlie loss than Grant. 1 (|vu)te again from 
President E. IVMijamin Andrews. "'Gettysburg 
convinced Lee that he could toy with the 
Potonuic army no longer, and this was more 
than (>ver impossible after Grant took com- 
mand. Tliis struggle [the AVilderness, Spott- 
sylvania, and Cold Harbor] tested both com- 
manders' mettle to the utmost. At the end of 
the hammering campaign, after losing men 
enough to form an army as large as Lee's, 
Grant's van was full twice as far from Rich- 
mond as McClellan's had been tw^o j^ears be- 
fore." 
Lee's last But slowly and surely were the intrepid 

Trpiiclics 

soldiers of Lee marching toward their last 
trenches. As another has said, "bravery in 
cam)) and field and deathless endurance at 
home could not take the place of bread." 
Although Petersburg, the key to Richmond, 
Avithstood a siege of ten months, and the iron- 
Avilled, indomitable Grant had lost before those 

[60] 



ROBERT E. LEE 

fiery g-Aten 60,000 more men, other agencies T'^eir^terribie 
eontrilnited irresistibly to tlie close of the war. 
AVith the fall of Vickshnrg everythin"- to the 
West of tlie Mississippi was lost. And so with 
Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Louisiana. 
Mississi]ipi. Alabama and Georg-ia havino- been 
cut off by Sherman's march to the sea, the veins 
of the Confederacy were opened unto the death. 
Add to this the fact that Lee's starving few 
Avere finally ()utnum])ered five to one and yet he 
kept that line unbroken, until he laid doAvn his 
arms at Ap]iomattox, April !», 1865. All this 
was done in the face of an alert, relentless, well- 
fed, well-clothed and brave army led by one of 
the world's great commanders whose greatness 
bespeaks to friend aiul foe the greatness of Lee. 
"Let us ask critics versed in the history of 
war" says President Andrews, a lirave Union 
soldier, "if books' tell of generalship more 
complete than this!" 

When the two great commanders met in the Two Great 
McLean parlor, at Ai^pomattox, Va., April 9, 
1865, there were i^olite greetings between the 
two. Lee wore his sword. Grant apologized 
for not wearing his, saying it had gone off in 
the baggage. Terms were soon arranged. 
There was no tender of sword on the jiart of 
Lee, nor did Grant recjuire it. By the terms 
all men Avere paroled and officers Avere alloAved 
to retain their horses, their baggage and their 
side-arms. General Lee was courteous, digni- 

[61] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

fled and sad; Grant was considerate, majiiian- 
iraous and calm. When the two men, llie 
greatest Generals of the two armies, left that 
parlor, the "war was at an end, so far as they 
were concerned. Both were g-reat masters of 
military science. Bnt both were men of peace. 
It remained for smaller men — men neither 
great in war nor in peace — to continue the 
jn-ejudices of the war. President Andrew 
Johnson, a iSouthern man, took measures to 
have Lee indicted for treason. All real Ameri- 
cans, North and South, regret this. But too 
much must not be nuule of it. A well known 
fact in human history, that prejudices some- 
times control large intellects, had its applica- 
Ornnt tiou ill the case of President Johnson, ({eneral 

protests 

Grant protested against such a violation of the 
terms of his surrender. The matter was drop- 
ped as wholly untenable in accordance with the 
Constitution of the United States. It was a 
mistake of the times, wdien men's blood boiled 
anew^ at the assassination of President Lincoln, 
a deed denounced by Lee in the strongest 
terms. Another mistake of the times was to 
permit this great and fine spirit to go to his 
grave without amnesty on the ]')art of the 
country he always loved and on the history of 
which he cast a brilliance, in the estimation of 
the w^orld, which will illumine the pages of all 
America's future liistorians. 

[02 1 



ROBERT E. LEE 

For tliere is justice in history. Prejudice 
which hides truth in one aji'e ceases to exist in 
succeeding' ag'es, so that whatever it hid is dis- 
ch)sed to the view. Just as rains and frosts 
corrode and wash away and break away the 
hiniinae of earth and ji'ravel and rock until the 
veins of rich <i-old appear ujion the surface, thus 
our prejudices clear away before breadth of 
spirit and justice until the truth is revealed. 
Has not tiiat day come to the American jieople? 
Their enemies should not be those of tlieir own 
household. General Lee led the ao'e in his lack 
of prejudice. "I have fout^'ht ag'ainst the ]ieo- 
ple of tiie North" he said to Dr. Pendleton, a 
clergyman Avho was resenting tlie desire of 
Johnson to indict him, "because I believed they 
were seeking to wrest from the South its dear- 
est rights. But I have never cherished toward 
tliem bitter or viiulictive feelings, aiul have 
never seen tlie day I did not pray for them." 
That was th(^ spirit of Lee. not only in defeat Tin- Spirit 
but also when Hushed with victory. It calls, great leaders 
as does the Appomattox spirit of General St'ctioiKiiism 
Ulysses S. Grant, for every American to belittle 
sectionalism. In any part of our great country 
where it may show its head it sliould be smit- 
ten. For why should brothers continue their 
quarrels whih' the alien usurps and destroys 
the home? 

It belittles tlie great to apply to them epithets 
of extravagant admiration. No one would feel 

[63] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

more hurt b\- them than wouhl General Lee. 
But it is (lifificult indeed to discover wliat ma}" 
he termed extravagances in reference to him, 
although the finest things have been said of 
him. At his deatli the greatest editors, states- 
men and soldiers of the world sought to do 
honor to his greatness. The New York Herald 
said: "Li him the military genius of America 
was developed to a greater extent than ever 
The Christian bcforc. He was a greater soldier than Have- 

Soldier won ti -, ii i , rii'j." )5t 

the world's locK, and equally as devout as a Lliristian. i 
'"'*^'^* close with the concluding sentence of the com- 

mendation by the famous Sf)ldier, Lord Wolseley, 
of the lamented Lee : ''I believe he will not only 
be regarded as the most prominent figure of the 
Confederacy, but as the greatest American of 
the 19th century, whose statue is well worthy 
to stand on an equal pedestal with that of 
Washington and whose memory is equally 
worthy to be enshrined in the hearts of all his 
countrymen. ' ' 



[(i4] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

Political Refon?ier 




THKODOliE liOOSEVKLT 
Coiiyi-iglitcd liy Harris & Kwiiig, Washington, I). C. 



"Of illustrious mtm the whole earth is the sepulchre. 
They are immortalized not alone by columns and 
inscri])tions in their own lands; memorials to them 
arise in foreign countries as well — not of stone, it 
may be, but unwritten, in the thoughts of jjosterity." 

— Thucydides. 

"In my judgment, no man is a good American wbo 
is not, of course, an American first — an American 
before he is a member of any section of the American 
])eoi)le such as a party or a class."- — Theodore Boose- 
velt, in the New Nationalism. 

"Take what I mean when I speak of the square 
deal. I mean not only that each man should act 
fairly and honestly under the rules of the game as it 
is now played, but I mean also that if the rules give 
improper advantage to some set of people, then let 
us change the rules of the game." 

— Theodore Roosevelt. 



Theodore Roosevelt 



1 



THEODORE i{OOSP]\'Ei/r Avas the twenty- ;':;;;;^';,\";;; 

fifth President of the United states. He was 



the first eity-borii man to reacli that great place. 
Presidential timber usually grows in the conn- 
try and not along the eui'bs and in the ]iarks of 
our cities. Nevertheless his was as sturdy a 
growth as those which withstood the cold blasts 
of the mountain foi'ests or the sultry lieat of 
the plantations. Despite the fact that he was 
born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he was as 
dcMuocratic as Abraham Lincoln who was born 
in a log-cabin, or Andrew Johnson, the tailoi', 
or James A. (larfield, the canal-lioy, each of ihe 
cradles of whom was ahnosf as lowly as that 
of the Manger itself. He was as nuich a self- 
made man as any one of those. Why do I say 
this? From the fact that it is as difficult for a 
rich young man to overcome temptation to a 
life of idleness and ease and train foi' the hard- 
ships that meet the ordinary man in life as it 
is for a poor young nuni to overcome obstacles 
which 1)eset his way. How- do Ave know this? 
The history of the Presidency is convincing 
inductive ]n-()of of the fact. Nearly every one 
of the men who has tilled that lofty chair has 
come from an humble family. Can you think 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

that such a remarkable fact is an accident? I 
do not think so. Neither can you suppose 
that no g'reat intellects are born araono- the rich. 
It is mncli more logical to say that men who are 
boi'ii ricli and wlio <:r()w up in wealthy circum- 
stances, frequently succumb to lives of ease. 

Pain is the most dreaded of all discij^lin- 
arians. P>ut it has been the ag'ent of giory not 
only for the saint but also for the statesman. 
What do I mean by this? I mean that as sick- 
ness has often wrenched religious character 
into shape for its heavenl}^ place, so has the 
strength acquired in overcoming it by many 
statesmen been the stepping stone to patriotic 
preeminence and popularity. With them it has 
been a third step to heaven (Pelion * * * * ter- 
siikiiest tius caclo gradus). Theodore Roosevelt, 

strongest of men, was sickliest of l)al)ies. For 
years he g'asjied for breath ui)on tlie large, 
warm heart and in the strong, incubatorial 
arms of his father. These literally insulated 
the infant from death, carrying- the tiny tot 
through many long, lonely nights and over 
nuiny miles in quest of fresh air. The father 
who holds his hardy boy to his heart enfolds a 
precious, but not always a prize, package. But 
who of us may properly estimate the value to 
America of that little bundle held in the arms 
of Theodore Roosevelt the elder? 
Two Sources Two strcauis coursed broadly through the 
of Talent ^^^.j^^^ ^^^ Tlicodorc Rooscvclt. Ouc was made 

[70] 



THEODOKE ROOSEVELT 

lip of fifilitiii<i' lilood, rapid, impulsive, tumbling 
on its way over all obstacles ; the other was con- 
stituted of Iniman sympathies and justice, 
serenely flowing oiiward vitalizing and fructi- 
fying everything it touched. What were the 
sources of these streams? The fighting blood 
came from tlie mother, the beautiful Martha 
Bulloch, great-grand-daughter of Governor 
Archibald Bulloch (Georgia's first chief Execu- 
tive during the Revolution), and sister of two 
Confederate Naval officers — Admiral J. D. Bul- 
loch and midshipman Irvine S. Bulloch. The 
philanthropic blood came from Theodore 
Roosevelt Sr., father of the President, who 
spent most of his life in deeds of personal 
philanthropy, having retired from business for 
that }nirpose. Do any of you believe in hered- 
ity? Do any of you beileve in the saying, 
"Blood will tell"'? If you do, what do you 
think of this lineage of this great man? Do 
you not think that the lineage justifies the man 
and that the man justifies the lineage? Do 
you not believe that this is true, wliether you 
believe in heredity or not? 

Accordinglv there were two men under the '''"''' 

■ Jvooseveltt- 

])hysieal aspect of Theodore Roosevelt. One 
was the genial companion and democratic spirit 
which drew men to him everywhere; this was 
the "pard" of the rough and ready cow-boy 
who liked him because he always did his part 
of the work and held up his end of the log; 

[71] 



THE A.MERK^AN SOUL 

tliis was the sympathetic Colonel who shared 
the discomforts and danjjfers of his men and 
won their love; this was the man who gave up 
his position as Assistant Secretary of the Navy 
to enter the war for the relief of Cuba ; this was 
the man who declared, with great meaning, "I 
would Avork as quick beside Pat Dugan as with 
the last desceiulants of the Patroon;" this was 
the Lieutenant-Colonel who on the four hot, 
dusty days from Texas to Tampa gave u]) his 
sleej^ing car berth, which had been provided 
for him as an officer, to a sick soldier (it is in- 
deed refreshing to know of such a thing as 
that in the light of many late happenings among 
soldiers) ; this is the officer who bunked Avitli 
his men in Tam]ia instead of taking up com- 
The intonseiy fortable quarters in tlu' hotel (There is reallv 

Human 

uooseveit somcthiiig of Acliillean aiul Alexanderian 

hardiwood, sym]iathy and sa]uency in such an 
act) ; this was the soldier who showed his great 
courage and presence of mind on the fields of 
Las Guasimas and San Juan, leading his troops 
and tlu)se of others in several famous charges 
in which ten per cent of his Rough Riders Avere 
killed ()!• wounded; this is the Colonel who 
went among the wounch^l after Las Guasinnis 
and said : "Boys, if there is a man at home wdio 
wouldn't be ])roud to change places with you, 
he isn't worth his salt, and he is not a true 
American;" this is the Colonel wdio went 
among those wounded boys, carrying them 

[ 72 ] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

dainties and sym])iithy, with such words as 
these, "Don't get up boys, lie still. Ah, Jim, 
how's your leg feelino- to-day? Gettino' bet- 
ter? That's good. You'll soon be all right 
now. Billy, I hope your back doesn't trouble 
you so much to-day." (Vide Morgan) — this was 
the Roosevelt of whom Joseph Bucklin Bishop, 
editor of Theodore Roosevelt's Letters to his chil- 
dren, says: "Deep and abiding love of children, 
of family and home, that was the dominating 
passion of his life. AVith that went love for 
friends and fellow-men, and for all things, 
birds, animals, trees, flowers, and nature in all 
its moods and aspects." AVhat more can or 
need be said? Do not tliese great (pialities of 
Tuisclflshness, courage, sym]>athy, thoughtful- 
ness, gentleness, sim])licity, love of children 
and love of home ])lace him among the great 
and in the presence aiul companionship of 
Jesus dirist? 

]t is never safe to use absolute statements 
about any person or event It is considered a 
trait of intellectual Aveakness to do this. For 
instance, there are those Avho say that Theodore 
Roosevelt Avas the greatest American. There 
is not yet any necessity nor Avise desire to go 
into a (juestion of that kind. We may, hoAV- 
ever, all say that he is one of the greatest of 
Americans. I say that iH)t as a re])ul)lican, but 
as a democrat and a Southern-l)orn man. It 
has never been difficult to see and feel his great- 

[73] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

iiess. We do not have to hunt for it through 
^""^'•"^ . a mass of sectionalism. He loved the South, 

America most ' 

for it was the home of his mother. He loved 
the North, for it was the home of his father. 
But he loved America more than he did any 
part of it. 

Home is the revealer of the man. Would 
you know about Theodore Roosevelt's home- 
life? There you shall tind the golden key 
which unlocks the dearest secrets of the soul of 
this man who was such a strenuous fighter for 
civic righteousness. In his home ''the eternal 
child's heart in the man cries out." The great 
man there placed himself absolutely on an 
Great in the eoualitv witli wife and children. There he 

Home-life _ 

was a flood of sunshine and a jolly companion, 
engaging in romps and rides and games and 
piHoAv-figlits, longed for before he came and 
missed when he was gone. These things are 
richly disclosed in his Letters to His Children. 
This volume, by Joseph Bucklin Bisho)), I re- 
gard as one of the richest legacies left to the 
home life in a hundred generations. Shall I 
select one of the letters, chosen for its brevity? 
It is to little Quentin, aiul dated Del Monte, 
Calif., May 10, 1903: Dearest Quenty-Quee : I 
loved your letter. I am very homesick for 
mother and you children; but I have enjoyed 
this week's travel. I have been among the 
orange groves, where the trees have oranges 
growing thick npoii tliem, and there are more 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

flowers than you have ever seen. I have a gold 
top wliich I shall ^'ixe you if Mother thinks you 
can take care of it. Perhaps I shall give you a 
silver bell instead. Whenever I see a little 
boy being brought up by his father or mother 
to look at the procession as we pass by. 1 thiiik 
of you and Archie and feel very homesick. 
Sometimes little boys ride in the procession on 
their ponies, just like Archie on Algoncfuin." 
Here is a short extract from quite a long letter Extract from 
to his son Kermit, who was in school. It was K.rmlr ^° 
written from the White House in June, 1905, 
and goes into detail about a family picnic at 
Pine Knot: "As we found that cleaning dishes 
took up an awful time, Ave only took two meals 
a day, which was all we wanted. On Saturday 
evening I fried two chickens for dinner, while 
Mother boiled the tea [probably meaning 
boiled the water for the tea], and we had cher- 
ries and wild strawberries, as well as biscuits 
and cornbread. To my pleasure Mother great- 
ly enjoyed the fried chicken and admitted that 
what you children had said of the way I fried 
chicken was all true. Tn the evening we sat 
out a long time on the piazza, and then read in- 
doors, and then went to bed." These extracts 
tell the spirit of all the letters. There are 
many of them. There is no preaching or cross- 
ness in any of them. 

So much for what would be called the hccirt- 
side of this picturesque personality. What 

[75] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

may be said about that other side of him — his 
Tiip iutelh^etual side? Did lie have as o-reat a mind 

intellectual _ 

side of as heart? Of course his blind worshipers, of 

Roosevelt ^ 

whom he had thousands, think so. But do 
serious minded, thoughtful men and women of 
America accord him this judg'ment? So far as 
I have been able to determine, they do. Of 
course there are people of violent prejudices 
who think it would show weakness in them to 
admit the real greatness of Mr. Roosevelt. But 
these people are unfortunate in their limita- 
tions. AVhile they would have with them some 
of respectable lives and good intellects, none of 
them might lay claim to broad-mindedness and 
fairness. But would that be all? By no 
means. They would tind among their associ- 
ates many Avho hate tlie former President on 
account of their own unrighteousness, or un- 
reasonableness. 
A fight for From the first da\- on Avliich Mr. Roosevelt 

Righteousness 

from the first stepped iiito tlic ])()litical arena he Avas oj^jiosed 
by the unrighteous element of his own party. 
This included the bosses, little and big. (He was 
never favored by ])olitical bosses, except Avhen 
they were compelled to do so by his jiopular- 
ity.) Tn the beginning of his career they 
wliipjied him often; but sometimes he whipped 
them. They whipped him once too often. 
That was when Mr. Piatt, the New York Repub- 
lican boss, nominated him for tlie Vice-Presi- 
dency in order to spoil his chances of the Presi- 

[70] 



TllEODOKE ROOSEVELT 

deiicy. As it eventually turned out, it was a 
door to the Presidency, flung open by the death 
of President McKinley. But did Mr. Roose- 
velt think the bosses Avholly bad? Not by any 
means. He liked Mr. Piatt, Mr. Ha una and 
Mr. Quay, as men. AVhy did he not .join them? 
He thought the boss-system encouraged graft 
and immorality. Did he not believe that there 
should l)e i^olitical leaders and party organi- 
zation? He did ; but was careful to distinguish 
between the leader and Avhat was known as the 
boss. Hear him on this (luestion: "A leader is DistuiKuishinf; 

^ lietweeii a 

necessary; l)ut his oiinonents alwavs call him a i^i^ader und 

• ' ' " Boss 

boss. An organization is always necessary but 
the men in opposition always call it a machine. 
Nevertheless, there is a real and dee]i distinc- 
tion between the leader and the boss, between 
organizations and machines. A political leader 
Avho fights ojienly for ]n'inciples and who keei^s 
his position of leadership by stirring the con- 
sciences and convincing the intellects of his fol- 
lowers, so that tlu\v have confidence in him aiul 
will follow him i)ecause tliey can achieve 
greater results under him tlian under any one 
else, is doing Avork which is in(lis]iensal)le in a 
democracy. The boss, on the other hand, is a 
man who does not gain his ]K)wer by open 
means, but by secret means and usually by cor- 
rupt means. A boss of this kind can ]mll wires 
in conventions, can manipulate mendiers of the 
Legislature, can control the giving or. withhold- 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

ing of office, and serves as intermediary for 
bringing together the powers of corrupt politics 
and corru]it business. The machine is simply 
another name for the kind of organization 
which is certain to grow u]> in a party or a 
section of a party controlled by such bosses as 
these and their henchmen, whereas, of course, 
an effective organization of decent men is essen- 
tial in order to secure decent politics." 
When the Whcu did oppositiou begin against Mr. 

Bosses began ^ ' _ '^ '^ 

to fight him Rooscvclt ? The Opposition began ])y the bosses 
when, aged 23, as a member of the Legislature, 
Mr. Roosevelt carried a motion to impeach a 
corrupt judge. As first he stood alone. What 
was the result? The bosses suppressed the bill, 
and decided that he was "no good." Did they 
succeed in defeating him the next year? No, 
for that was the year Grover Cleveland swe])t 
the state, as a civil service reformer by 200,000 
majority. So strong Avas Rooesvelt's feeling 
for reform that he showed his willingness to 
su])port Governor Cleveland in certain reforms. 
It was in the Legislature that Mr. Roosevelt 
was first found "impossible" by the machine. 
It Avas in the Legislature that a politician, in 
trying to remove Mr. Roosevelt's ol)jections to 
a bill, urged him not to "let the Constitution 
come betAveen friends." There he learned his 
"first real lesson in politics," to stand alone for 
a clear principle, but to Avork Avith men as they 

First Lesson are uutil such au emergency comes." There he 

[78] 



TnEODOKE KOOSEVELT 

told the people of the "bitter cry of the 
crowded sweat shops of the city tenements" 
and liad a bill passed for their relief. It was 
there, as chairman of a Connnittee he investi- 
gated New York City official life. exi)osed a 
great deal of graft, and gave the ix'ople of 
New York the chance to secnre good govern- 
ment. 

But has it ever been possible for a really 
romantic nature to satisfy his soul with the 
hubbub of politics? Such at least was not the 
case with Mr. Roosevelt, one of the most ro- 
mantic of men. Between legislative sessions Answers tii» 
he answered the call of the wilderness and wii.r' * "' 
sought the vast, mysterious silences and hard- 
ships of the golden West. His open nature, 
kindliness, democratic spirit, and readiness to 
do his part, won him the love of the plainsmen. 
The exposure to the snows and the hard, open- 
air tasks gave him a body of the strength of 
steel. When the young legislator left the train 
at the shanty-town of Medora, in North Dakota, 
the act rendered that spot forever historic. 

In 1886, he was recalled to the East to be Re.aiied to 
defeated for nmyor of New York by Abram S. ''''''"' ^'"'^ 
Hewitt; in 1889, he was appointed on tlie 
National Civil Service Commission. While in 
this ]K)sition he made an address to the corre- 
spondents of the Southern press in which he 
said: "This is an institution not for Republi- 
cans and not for Democrats, l)ut for the whole 

[ 79 ] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

American people." In 1895-97, he was Presi- 
dent of the New York Police Commission. At 
that time the New York police were the most 
Services as cormpt l)odv of officials in the worlfl. "A man 

Police 

Coiiiinissioner conld iiot be a}i]iointed a policeman niitil he had 
paid from $200 to $.'500 and to l)e i)romoted to 
a captaincy cost as hijih as $12,000 to $15,000. 
To get their money l)ack they had to blackmail 
the lawless elements of tlie popnlation." Did 
Mr. Roosevelt stand snch corrn]iti()ii ? It goes 
withont saying that he did not. The boldness 
and snccess of his reforms astonished the coun- 
try and dumbfounded the bosses. Not only did 
he stop the system of paying for promotions, 
but required, in new aj^pointments, a "good 
primary common school educational test, after 
the moral and physical examination was 
passed. Some of the answers returned were in- 
dicative of several tilings. "For instance," 
says Mr. Roosevelt, "one of our questions in a 
given examination was to name five of the New 
Englaiul States. One comjH^titor, oliviously 
of foreign birth, answered: "England, Ireland, 
Scotland, Whales and Cork." Many of the ap- 
plicants thought Abraliam Lincoln a general in 
the civil war ; several that he was President of 
the Confederate States; three that he had been 
assassinated by Jet¥erson Davis, "one by 
Thomas Jefferson, one by Garfield, several by 
Guiteau, and one by Ballington Booth;" some 
applicants thonght Chicago to be on the Pacific 

[ 80 ] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

Ocean, while others answered that the head of 
the United States Government was the New 
York Fire Department. 

What was tlie ultimate outcome? Did he what he did 

as Conimis- 

succeed in overcominji' the thousand difficul- sioner 
ties of this oftice? He aholislu'd blackmail; 
he created efficiency where there had been in- 
efficiency ; he convinced the men of the force 
that he believed in a S(iuare deal; he enforced 
the Sunday Olosinji' law a«>ainst all saloons; he 
enforced the neglected tenement-house law, 
and "promptly seized fully one hundred 
wretched and crowded liives of the helpless 
poor," diminishing' in oiu' locality the death- 
rate to less than one-half. A characteristic 
scene occurred during a procession of the Ger- 
man element to jn-otest against the Sunday 
Closing of the saloons. Roosevelt was on the 
reviewing stand with other city officials. A 
Franco-German veteran in the jirocession. un- 
aware of the ('onnuissioner "s ]>roximity, 
shouted out as he was passing, "AVo ist der 
Roosevelt? (Where is Roosevelt?)" Imagine 
his surprise when he saw just above him those 
large two eye-glasses and gleaming white 
teeth as he heard the answer, " Hier bin ich. 
AVas Avillst du, Kamrad?" (Here I am. What 
do you wish comrade). "Hoch! Hoch ! Roose- 
velt," shouted the old fellow as he hurried 
along much chagrined.' 

' Morgan. 

[81] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

wiiat ^yas t';'^> But what shall we say of the jiolicy of the 
Big- Stick? Where did the term orio-inate? It 
came from an expression of his attitude in 
reference to America defending the Monroe 
Doctrine. This expression is, "Tliere is an old 
adage which runs, 'Speak softly and carry a 
big stick; you will go far.' " It is a remark- 
able fact that Mr. Roosevelt adopted the tirst 
rather than the latter part of tlie saying in all 
his policies. He was in no sense a bully, al- 
though the tierce, powerful interests opposed 

^co^mpHshpj ^^y lii"i tried to make it appear so. As 
a biographer says: "the weapon in his hand 
takes the form of a righteous cause, charged 
with the irresistible force of public ojVmion." 
His so-called big stick was not in any sense a 
policy of the "shirt sleeve" variety of brag, 
and bluster and discourtesy, but the o])]iosite. 
It enabled him to secure from the Pope the re- 
call of the Spanish Friars from the Philippines : 
it enabled him to check the bombardment of 
the Venezuelan port by British and Gernum 
war vessels in 1903 ; it enabled him in the same 
year to deliver the petition of protest to Rus- 
sia against outrages on the Jews ; it enabled 
him to end the Russian-Japanese War, June 12, 
1905. (Mr. Root said of this last that Mr. 
Roosevelt held the most important portfolio in 
the Cabinet — that of "Secretary of Peace." 
Mr. Root's opinion was justified; for that 
service to mankind, Mr. Roosevelt received the 

[82] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

Nobel Peace Prize), It enabled him to send 
our fleet around the world, thus redoubling the 
respect of the world for the military possibil- 
ities of America; it enabled him to build the 
Panama Canal. 

But from what quarter did the burly and 
criminal-looking- cartoons come? There is no 
doubt that they were a part of a systematized 
propaganda to destroy his influence in his own 
party. And what was more natural? As 
President, Mr. Roosevelt took up the fight 
against industrial monopolies. What was the 
consequence? He stired up a hornet's nest. 
Both enemies and friends, democrats and re- 
publicans, admit his masterful fight. "There 
have been aristocracies," he says in his Auto- 
biography, "which have played a great and 
beneficieut part at stages in the growth of man- 
kind; but we had come to the stage where for 
our people what was needed was a real democ- 
racy; and of all forms of tvrannv the least ^'"' ^^*""'*'^ 

t/ ? • • Tyranny 

attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny 
of mere wealth, the tyranny of a plutocracy." 
But was Mr. Roosevelt tlie original mover 
against monopoly in our industries? Was not 
the Sherman Anti-Trust Law a United States 
Law, the purpose of which was "to destroy 
monopoly and curb industrial combinations"? 
And further, had not the Government, under 
President Cleveland, brought suit to prevent 
the Sugar Trust from obtaining control of 

[83] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

three additional companies in Pliiladelpliia? 
Is it not true that one of the purposes of that 
suit, known as the Knight case, was to prevent 
the Sugar Trust from controlling 98% of all 
our sugar production? Those things are all 
true. But it is also true that the case had gone 
against the Government. The Supreme Court 
had held, with only one dissenting vote, that 
the Sugar Trust had the right to acquire those 
three companies by an exchange of its stock 
What made for thcirs. Such a decision made the Sherman 

the Sherman 

Law a dead Auti-Trust law a dead letter. Both the Presi- 

letter 

dent and Congress were powerless to interfere. 
Big trusts rapidly multiplied, free from all 
harm under the ]irotection of that decision. 
What was Mr. Roosevelt, the President, to do? 
Many smaller corporations and industries went 
to the wall and others were suffering. A 
clamor came up from the people. In the mean- 
time, under the name of the Northern Securities 
Company, a gigantic attempt was made, under 
this Knight case decision, to put into one hold- 
ing company the vast Northwestern railway 
systems. Mr. Roosevelt leaped into the arena 
almost immediately after he became President. 
He was at that time even a more picturesque 
figure than usual. The "big stick" put in 
some of its heaviest blows. He was caricatured 
and abused by papers friendly to the "inter- 
ests" from Maine to California; but he was 
making history and winning popularity among 

[84] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

the people. He ordered his Attorney-General, 
Mr. Knox, to institute proceedings for the dis- 
solution of the Securities (*ompany — the rail- 
way trust in question. It was done. The 
Government lost, because of the Knight case 
decision. The big trusts laughed at his dis- 
comfiture. But it was dangerous to laugh in ^^l KnYg\"^ 
front of those drooping, honest eyes of Roose- ^^'^'^ Decision 
velt. He never faced big game with only one 
load in his gun. The next time he invaded tlie 
Supreme Court itself and asked a reversal of 
the Knight case, "in the interest of the people 
against monopoly and privilege." I remember 
that at the time he was regarded as rather 
irreverent toward that august body; but he 
had the sympathy of the majority of the just 
and cool-headed men in America of both politi- 
cal parties. He won by a vote of 5 to 4. But ^''.J'^^'''^ 
had he really accomplished his purpose? He 
had "established the power of the Government 
to deal with all great corporations." But 
would this be an efficient enough instrument to 
break up monopol,y of industries? He did not 
think so. What did he do? He sought the es- 
tablishment of a Federal Commission which 
"should put a stop to abuse of big corporations 
and small corporations alike." Such a Com- 
mission "would destroy monopoly, and make 
the biggest business man in the country con- 
form squarely to the principles laid down by 
the American people, while at the same time 

[85] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 



What 
Roosevelt 
regarded as 
His Greatest 
Services 



giving fair pla}^ to the little man and certainty 
of knowledge as to what was wrong and what 
was right both to big and little man." He 
never succeeded in having such a Commission 
created ; but his efforts led to the establishment 
of a "Department of Commerce and Labor, and 
with it the erection of the Bureau of 
Corporations." 

Roosevelt left the Presidency in March, 1909, 
of all preceding Presidents the most popular 
with the people. For seven and a half years he 
had stood for civic righteousness. He re- 
garded as his most important accomplishments 
the construction of the Panama Canal; his in- 
tervention for peace between Russia and 
Japan ; and his sending the fleet around the 
world. Mr. LaFoUette, a political enemy, said 
that none of these compared with other achieve- 
ments of the retiring President. Among these 
were : the making of reform respectable ; the 
doctrine of the square deal ; and the conserva- 
tion of our national resources. I quote from 
LaFollette's Magazine: "Nothing can be 
greater or finer than this. It is so great and so 
fine that when the historian of the future shall 
speak of Theodore Roosevelt he is likely to say 
that he did many notable things — but that his 
greatest work was inspiring and actually be- 
ginning a world-movement for staying ter-i 
restrial waste and saving for the human race 
the things upon which, and upon which alone, 



[86] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

a g'reat aud peaceful and progressive and 
happy raee-life can be founded." 

May we say with Mr. Hermann Hagedorn, As a 

statesman 

Jr.: As a statesman Ins place is among the 
greatest America has produced ; but as a man, 
he stands with the noblest, most valiant and 
most appealing in history. It is not his deeds 
but his qualities of character which constitute 
the splendor of the lieritage he has left us''? 
Here is the message written by Mr. Roosevelt 
for the New York Bible Society and placed in 
Testaments given to our soldiers : 

''The teachings of the New Testament are 
foreshadowed in Micah's verse: 'What more 
dotli the Lord require of thee than to do jus- 
tice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly 
with thy God.' 

Do justice; and therefore fight valiantly 
against the armies of Germany and Turkey, for 
these nations in this crisis stand for the reign 
of Moloch and Beelzebub in this earth. 

Love mercy; treat prisoners well; succor the 
wounded ; treat every woman as if she were 
your sister; care for the little children, and be 
tender with the old and helpless. 

Walk humbly; you will do so if you study the 
life and teachings of the Saviour. 

May the God of justice and mercy have you 
in His keeping. ' ' 

What would an honest critic regard as the His most 

Outstanding 

most outstanding trait of Theodore Roosevelt? Trait 
[87] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

Would he say it was energy? Truly he was a 
man of tremendous energy; but that was not 
his strongest characteristic. Was it honesty 
of purpose, kindliness, love of home, love of 
nature, love of country, manliness, hatred of 
evil, love of justice? No. What then was it? 
As I see it, it was an almost abnormal devel- 
opment of a great consciousness. So wonder- 
fully developed was his consciousness that his 
constant habit was to regard himself and his 
conduct in a wholly impersonal way. We tind 
him again and again comparing himself with 
others whether with a cowboy of the plains, or 
Andrew Jackson, a President. He always 
gave us an honest judgment of the result, 
whether favorable or unfavorable to himself. 
Shallow people sometimes thought this to be 
egotism. But that idea is absolutely precluded 
by the fact that his comparisons were most fre- 
quently unfavorable to himself. What advan- 
tage was this highly developed consciousness? 
It was advantageous in this particular, when- 
ever he measured up short he immediately de- 
voted his energies to make himself more fit and 
thus shorten the distance between himself and 
the object of his comparison. This trait man- 
ifested itself from childhood, through youth and 
middle age. It enabled him to overcome colos- 
sal difficulties and gain a permanent place 
among the great. 

[88] 



THE AMERICAN SOUL 

If it were left to my choice to call upon our Most 

T-,, 1 T-i J.1 X 1 • TT- [■ appreciative 

Eternal l* atner to send, ni His mercy, irom of best 

, . .. P -, . \ . . Americanism 

among the great spirits oi our departed states- 
men, a bright evangel to go abroad throughout 
the earth to herald the advantages to man of 
the freedom of worship, freedom of opportun- 
ity, and freedom of citizenship, as we have 
them here in our beloved America, I would not 
ask that Washington or Jackson or Lincoln be 
sent, as truly great and as truly American as 
were those great spirits; but I should humbly 
plead that He send Theodore Roosevelt, who 
would have a better acquaintance with modern 
American conditions and at the same time 
would share equally the great traits of the im- 
mortal trio which I have named. 



[89] 



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